When Kerry McCoy was an assistant coach at Lehigh in the early 2000s, he cultivated a relationship with a seventh-grader who would eventually pay dividends.

While working at a Lehigh club camp, the Terrapins wrestling coach met a young, aspiring wrestler named Jimmy Sheptock. As Sheptock grew to become a decorated wrestler at Northampton High School, the two kept in touch. When McCoy became the head coach at Stanford in 2005, he promised Sheptock he’d try to land the Northampton, Pa., native a scholarship.

The duo finally reunited when McCoy took over as the Terps head coach in 2008. So when No. 1 184-pound Sheptock and the other members of McCoy’s first recruiting class posed for pictures for a pre-match ceremony before the Terps’ 23-9 Senior Night win over American last night at Comcast Pavilion, McCoy couldn’t help but get a bit emotional.

The Terps, who also handed N.C. State a 23-14 defeat Saturday, extended their win streak to three contests, matching their season high. They have now won four of their past five matches.

“I really don’t want to think about it,” McCoy said. “This is my first recruiting class — first kids I ever recruited, seeing them come through and make their way through for their five years. … It’s going to be tough seeing them go, but we’ve got a couple more weeks to enjoy them and a couple more months until the year is over. So we’re going to make sure we cherish all these guys.”

Saturday’s win didn’t come easily. In an exciting contest early on, as No. 6 285-pound Spencer Myers fell to rival No. 7 Nick Gwiazdowski, 11-8, after Myers barely missed registering the pin.

After reeling off five wins in the first six matches, the Terps allowed N.C. State to make up ground, cutting the lead to 18-14 going into the final match. Sheptock, though, handily defeated Shayne Brady to secure the Terps’ victory.

Then the Terps turned their attention to yesterday’s Senior Night.

“It’s kind of surreal,” 285-pound senior Carl Buchholz said. “I’ve been doing this [since] before I can remember. [Since] I was 5. It’s flown by. It was kind of weird, having it all come to an end in one match.”

With just three matches remaining against American, the Terps held a slim 13-9 lead, with the fate of the match resting on Sheptock, No. 8 Christian Boley and Myers once again.

Through five seasons, Sheptock has never lost a match at home with the Terps. Though shorter than most wrestlers in his weight class, the chiseled senior has used the height differential to his advantage throughout his career.

“I kind of go out there and give a bunch of cross faces to guys and make their faces bleed,” Sheptock said with a chuckle. “Height’s really not that big of a factor.”

And fittingly, Sheptock’s relentless offense caused a few trickles of blood to drop from the Eagles’ Jason Grimes’ nose. The nation’s top-ranked wrestler made easy work of Grimes, securing the 10-4 win in his last match at Comcast Pavilion.

“He could have gone a lot of places out of high school,” McCoy said. “But he chose to come here. He had his ups and downs, but he righted the ship, he focused on it and he bought in.”

After Boley won the next match, 10-4, the contest was essentially out of reach so McCoy elected to rest Myers and sent Buchholz to the mat.

After his senior class’s final match at Comcast Pavilion, Buchholz walked off the mat, threw his headgear at his teammates and pointed at his father as the Terps offered high-fives. Buchholz, who transferred to this university after two seasons at Rutgers and played for the Terps’ football team this season, captured the 5-1 win over Blake Herrin.

Though he wasn’t a member of McCoy’s first recruiting class, his victory served as fitting end to an emotional night.

“I always point to my dad after I win,” Buchholz said. “[It was] just kind of a final hurrah.”